Don't Let Go
by Naseka
Summary: Clarisse, Joseph, an earthbound airplane and one parachute. TWOSHOT R & R
1. Chapter One

A plane sailing through the sky at 10,000 feet was carrying a former queen and her new husband across the sea to morocco for their honeymoon. All was going well until they felt the plane shaking.

"What's going on?" Clarisse asked nobody in particular.

"I don't know, I'll try and find out," Joseph replied as he stood up from his seat and walked towards the front of the plane.

As she waited for him to return, she noticed that the shaking was getting worse and worse, and she felt as if she were being pulled into her seat. She tried to get up, but was immediately pushed back down by the force. She was starting to panic and wondered why Joseph was taking so long, so she screamed out to him but got no reply.

Eventually he carefully came out of the cabin and pulled his way towards her. Sitting down, he gently kissed her forehead and told her to listen to him carefully.

"Clarisse, this plane is ground bound which means we have to evacuate it immediately. Now I want you to put this on and when I tell you to, you're going to jump out that door, wait a few seconds then pull this cord."

He demonstrated which cord she needed to pull and continued, "Now if this cord fails, pull this one over here, okay?"

"Okay."

She directed her attention to the men who were opening the door and flying out one by one, while Joseph quickly strapped the parachute onto her back. He watched the last of the men fly out of the plane and held her hand, leading her to the door. Suddenly she noticed something that she hadn't noticed before, "Where's yours?"

"My what?"

"Your one of these."

"Oh, my parachute, I don't have one."

"What? Why not!"

"There are no more parachutes, this is the last one."

"W…what are you going to do then?"

"I'm going to stay here and try to get some sleep."

"You're going to go down with the plane?"

"Umm…yes, that sounds about right. Okay, jump now!"

She stood in front of the door and turned to him, "What do you mean you're going down with the plain? You can't die on me! Not like my husband! Not like my son!"

"Clarisse, there are no more parachutes left, now can you please just jump to safety?"

Her throat tightened, "NO! I'm not going without you! We can share this one?"

He shook his head, "The weight would be too great and we'd die on impact. Please darling, please just do this? For me…?"

"I am not going anywhere without you, I would sooner throw this thing out that door then let you die here alone, I've spent too many nights crying over the deaths of loved ones and I refuse to shed anymore tears over another human being!"

He lightly pushed her backwards in hopes that she might jump out, but she grabbed onto his arm and screamed, "If you push me out, I'm taking you with me!"

"Clarisse! Please! I want you to get to safety!"

"NO!

"NOW!"

"Nohoho!"

She clung onto his body and waited for him to give in.

"Darling, you're really not going to jump?"

"Not alone."

"But…"

He looked into her tear-stained eyes and gave her a long sweet kiss, "Tell you what, we'll jump down together and just…hope for the best."

"Oh," she squeaked.

He kissed her temples and picked her up. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and almost strangled him by constricting his neck with her arms. He slowly kissed her once more and backed slowly out the door.

Almost as soon as they left the plane, Joseph reached a hand up to pull the cord, which caused the parachute to open up. He looked down and felt that they were travelling towards the ground a little to quickly, so he attempted to struggle free from her clutches. He didn't have any luck though, so he was forced to listen to her screaming, "You let go and I swear I'll cut the cords on this thing."

"I'm still here!"

"DON'T LET GO! Promise me you won't let go."

"I promise."

He stared down at the fast approaching water and struggled some more, "Clarisse, I have to let go now or both of us will fall to our deaths."

"No!"

He struggled again and managed to free himself to the extent of which she grabbed his hands, "You promised!"

"I'm sorry."

"No, Joseph, no."

"I'll always love you..."

At last he released himself from her tight grasp and started falling towards the sea below.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Tears started rolling down her face as she watched him fall, staring continuously down at the sea until she herself landed on a beach full of soft warm sand.

* * *

To be continued as this is a two-shot. That means there is one more chapter. This is just something I was thinking about writing last night AFTER I went to bed...rolls eyes 


	2. Chapter Two

She sat on the sand for the rest of the day just looking at the sea, for it had taken her husband from her and she was more than upset about it. The tears hadn't stopped falling and she began to wonder whether they ever would. She wished more than anything that he was safe, warm and being looked after, but she knew that it was impossible. She thought about the day they met, the day they married, the night they made love for the first time and how she longed to hold him in her arms once more, but she soon realised that he was gone and she would never hold him again.

It was getting cold and dark and her body began to shiver, she hadn't moved from her spot on the beach all day and didn't plan to either. She began to feel sick, maybe it was the salty smell, maybe it was the fact that she was never going to see her love again, or maybe it was because she was just plain hungry. It didn't matter though because she didn't think she was going to be rescued any time soon and she certainly didn't want to continue her life anymore.

It began to get really dark and she couldn't help but look at the moon, as it was the only source of light available apart from the sparkling stars which were beautiful, but they couldn't help her get her mind off him.

She drifted off to sleep late in the evening and awoke early the next morning to somebody tapping her shoulder and calling out her name. Carefully she opened her eyes and saw her love leaning right over her smiling and asking her if she was all right.

She immediately sat up and wrapped her arms around him, "Oh god, Joseph, I just had the most terrible dream. We were on our way to Morocco and something was wrong with the plane and you died and I was upset and…"

He squeezed her tightly and said, "Hey, hey calm down, that wasn't a dream."

Her eyes widened as she took in the scenery and the events of the previous day, "It wasn't a dream?"

"No."

She pulled away, looked into his eyes and then started slapping his face in between words, "You stupid, stupid man, what part of don't let go don't you understand?" Then she started strangling him, "You promised!"

"I'm…sorry…I'm…sorry. Don't I even get a kiss?"

He held her shoulders and leaned in closer, making sure he didn't lose eye-contact with her.

Those eyes were too gorgeous for her to resist, "Do it again and you are soooo dumped."

"I did it for you, I didn't want all that beauty to go to waste."

She hit him again and then hugged him, "I hate you."

And then something hit her, "If you didn't die, then what happened to you?"

He pulled away and held her hands, "Well, after I let go of you I started falling of course so I decided to try and save myself by putting my body in a diving position like this," he demonstrated, "then I hit the water and went down a fair way, struggled to reach the surface, then attempted to stay afloat while looking for somewhere to swim to. I saw this little island and started heading towards it all the time battling the waves. It took me a very long time to reach the shore and it was dark by then, so I dragged myself onto the sand and sort of collapsed. A few minutes ago, I woke up and decided to find out if there was a food source on the island and I spotted your parachute, so I looked for you, found you lying sweetly on the sand and that's all there is to say about the matter. You know the rest."

He was replied to by another slap across the face, "I was so upset, I thought you had died."

"Well I didn't, isn't that all that matters?"

"I suppose…so did you find any?"

"Any what?"

"Food."

"Oh, no."

"Then get to it, start looking! I'll stay here and soak up the sun, you look for something to eat."

"Oh so you get the easy job instead of me? Me who swam about ten kilometers to safety, exhausting my poor old bones in order to save my skin?"

"Yes, you who let go of me after you solemnly promised not to."

"Alright, alright, I'll find the food."

After he walked off she allowed herself a small smile – he was okay and that's all that mattered.

A search party found them about a week later, by which time they had already set up a humble abode that they were reluctant to leave – oh the privacy, oh the secludedness.

Amelia was happy to see that they were safe and well as was the entire country excluding one Viscount Mabrey.

The two both learned valuable lessons; Clarisse learned never to trust her husband with his own life ever again and Joseph learned that not keeping a promise may result in severe bruising.

And they lived happily ever after.

* * *

Bad news for you guys – school holidays finish today which most likely means not so often updates.

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